It was raining, when we got up at 6. Our bags were out at 6:45 and we went to breakfast, as usual. I discovered cheesecake on this buffet and I could not resist.
I joined my husband, who was eating with the couple with whom we'd had dinner that first night of the tour back in Berlin. We were having a very nice breakfast. My husband went upstairs to brush his teeth, while I finished up. I was just getting into the cheesecake, when Brane came through the dining room saying something about leaving soon. I suddenly realized, as did the couple, that I had mistaken the departure time. Every other day, we'd had departure time set at one hour after the bags were out. Today, he'd given us only 45 minutes. I hurriedly finished and headed for the elevator and it was almost 7:30. I saw Brane near the bus and told him we'd be two minutes late.
In the elevator, I discovered that I had both keys. We were in one of those rooms where the electricity only works when a key card is in a slot. My husband had put his in last night and had not thought to remove it when he left the room. As I said yesterday, our room was as far from the elevator as possible. I "ran" to the room, which is tough when you can't raise your knees for running. My husband was waiting there. He'd thought I'd be along sooner. We hurriedly brushed our teeth and grabbed our bags. It's a good thing that the toothbrushes and toothpaste are all we leave unpacked before breakfast.
We were on the bus and 7:34 and we departed on wet roads at 7:37. Along the way, we saw a lot of road construction. We were most intrigued by wire walls with rocks in them. We saw sections of the wire lying on the roadside and tried to figure out how the whole thing was put together. At our rest stop at the Kösching Forst rest area at 8:32, we got some answers. They had a wall made like that. It seems the wiring is put up and the rocks are loaded in.
It was grey and raw and we were glad to hustle inside. As usual, we spent a total of 1,40 Euro on the restroom and used the 1 Euro credit on chocolate, which originally cost 2,19. I watched a man hand over a whole pile of the credits to pay for a coffee. The clerk checked each one, maybe for an expiration date. I hadn't known you could save them up, but, then again, we didn't know how often we'd stop at one.
My husband paid 1 Euro for his McDonald's coffee, which he was very happy about. We headed back to the bus, noticing the cars with campers or trailers. We even saw a family sleeping in their bus. Of course, these folks were taking up some of the bus parking, which bugged Brane. We did see overnight parking down the hill.
On the road again at 8:55, we passed fields of hops, asparagus, corn and turnips.
Not long before 10, we were driving in Augsburg. We'd been seeing campaign signs for the past few days. They are a lot more civilized than ours. They talk about themselves and not the other candidate.
At 10:05, we were let off the bus just about a block from the Rathausplatz. We walked past the Augustusbrunnen with Emperor Augustus pointing toward Rome.
We had our whispers on to listen to the city tour guide. She was bundled up more than we were, with a coat and scarf. None of us had packed for this weather. We stood near the far end of the square listening, as she pointed out St. Peter am Perlach, a Catholic church, and the Rathaus, which has the Goldener Saal, a very ornate ceremonial room.
As we listened to her talking history we had already heard, I noticed a couple of people from our group coming out of a building at the end of the square and noticed the WC sign. I decided that that was a good idea, as did my husband and we hurried over there. I ignored the unmanned plate, but evidently he put in 0,40. I just saw no point.
When we got back to the group, she was still talking, but more about the Fugger family. I noticed a streetcar with an interesting mix of German and English and this nice manhole cover.
She finally led us across the square to Philipiner-Weißer-Straße. There were a lot of shops along here and street musicians. One woman just couldn't take the cold and, telling Brane she and her friend would catch up, ducked into T. K. Maxx, which has to be related to our TJ Maxx back home. This one has a much fancier entrance than any TJ Maxx, though.
We stopped in front of the Hans Jakob Fugger statue to learn that he was not the rich Fugger, but rather one who fostered science. We noted the Maximillian Museum, with its painted window and architectural embellishments.
Soon we were behind the St. Annakirche, which used to be part of a monastery. Luther stayed here with the monks, when he came to Augsburg in 1518 to meet with the Pope's legate (Augsburg Confession). As we went through a passageway, I noticed this sign about "roof avalanches", which is an unusual term.
In the hallway, there are ancient graves in the wall and the floor. There was a handy rack of postcards and I bought 3 for 1,50. We toured in a sort of circle. Even though there was a great distraction to our left, we first looked at the Lutheran church on our right. The church became Lutheran in 1545. There were paintings by Cranach of Luther and the Madonna. The altarpiece is a beautiful carved wooden one.
We then moved into the Goldschmiedekapelle with its incredible frescoes.
We then went back to that wonderful distraction, the Fuggerkapelle.
The chapel is known as the first Renaissance sacred space in Germany. It was financed by Jakob Fugger, who was concerned about his salvation, based on Jesus' comments on a rich man getting into heaven. Luther did not approve of Fugger's work in helping the Church sell indulgences, of course. It is beautiful.
The guide led us next along Martin-Luther-Platz and past the colorful Weberhaus, whose murals told of the plight of the weavers.
Across Moritzplatz, we could see the Moritzkirche, our next destination. As we went to cross the street, we could see the colorful buildings of Maximilianstraße to our left.
St. Moritz is one of the oldest churches in the city. Today, it is not only a parish church, but also the seat of the city spiritual welfare for the diocese. Before going into the church, we noticed this cute fruit stand in the plaza in front of it. I think, it would be fun to build in miniature.
The starkness of the interior is quite striking, but very typical for Catholic churches that were gutted during the war. The statue of Christ walking toward you up on the altar is fantastic!
Augsburg evidently went Lutheran, but before the Peace of Westphalia, they let people be whatever religion they wanted. That is unusual for that time period. Usually, the ruler demanded everyone be his religion. This reminded me of our discussions in Bible study about how the Israelites did not have a lot of say in how their religion was practiced. That was all on the king. In any event, today, Augsburg is just over half Catholic.
Since some folks were requesting a restroom, she took us to the Zeughaus, a former arsenal with a beer garden next door. Oddly, she took us there not knowing, if we could use the facilities. She wouldn't even ask the proprietor. Brane had to. When we came back upstairs (always stairs!), some of us put money in the plate on the bar, not knowing that Brane had already taken care of it. Ah, well, I only put in 0,20. High on the wall, I saw this sundial and what seems to be a linear sundial. I saw them in another town, as well.
Our next destination was the Stadtpalast der Fugger. The family still exists and they still have money. This building has offices rented out now. But, back in the day, the emperor was hosted in the room behind this balcony. The Damenhof (ladies court) was visible behind a gate.
We exited on the Maximilianstraße, crossed the street, and looked down toward the Hercules fountain, which was farther than we would go.
She led us back to the Rathausplatz. Along the way, we passed the other side of the Weberhaus, as well as a store devoted to that quintessential clothing of Bavaria, the dirndl.
I got very excited, when we passed a craft store. It's the first I've ever seen in Germany.
We were back to the Rathausplatz at 12:02. My husband tipped the guide 2 Euros, because she had done a good job. We were now given time for lunch. Brane made sure that B had people to eat with, as she requested, so that she would not worry about getting lost.
We decided to go back to dichtl, which we'd passed a few minutes ago. The guide had said they were good. When you walk in, you are confronted by an amazing counter of pastries and cakes, as well as some breads. Then, there are counters of chocolates and boxes of chocolates on the wall. Through sliding glass doors, you enter a classy restaurant, complete with coat hooks.
Since it was the first time I'd seen it on a menu on this trip, I ordered an Apfelschorle, which is mineral water and apple juice, for 2,50. My husband ordered a Coca Cola Light for 3,20. I received a filled glass, while he got a bottle and glass. Due to the chilly temperature, he ordered Kohlrabiecremesuppe (kohlrabi cream soup) for 4,50. I felt I had not been eating enough greens, so I got the delicious Griechischer Salat, klein (small Greek salad) for 6,90. We took turns going out to check the pastry case in order to order desert. I got the Torte des Monates (torte of the month), Johannesbeere-Weiße Schokolade-Sahne-Schokolade (currant, white chocolate, cream, and chocolate) and my husband ordered Brombeere-Joghurt (blackberry yogurt), the two of which totaled 7,20. The bill came to 24,30.
We left the restaurant at 1:10 and had to decide what to do with our limited time. We decided that the craft shop would have to be skipped. I wanted postcards and, when we'd finished the tour, my husband had asked the guide where a post office was, so that I could get stamps for my collection. It turned out to be a DHL counter in this shop. I had a great time picking out stamps, whien the clerk kindly pulled out sheets, when I told him I was a collector. I wound up getting 13,05 worth.
We still had some time, so we decided to go to T. K. Maxx,so that I could look for a large scarf to supplement my thin jacket. They were on first floor, not far from the door, but it still took some time to find one that was not too flimsy. The one I found is like a shawl in size and cost only 9,99. The line was not short and at one point, I wondered whether I should have asked some folks from our group that were well ahead of me, if I could give them money to pay for mine. But, the line moved better than expected and we got to the bus at 1:45, as scheduled.
When we left at 1:46, we were glad it hadn't rained, but it was still grey and chilly/cold.
We passed familiar sites as we drove into München (Munich), arriving at the Holiday Inn-City Center at 3:08. Let me say right now, that it is not in the city center. It is over the Isar, southeast of the Marienplatz. The lobby was full of people, mostly Muslim women, it seemed. We were assigned room 308, which would be our last room on this trip. It looked out over a roof, which was not impressive, but the room itself was fine.
Free wi-fi is our friend and I used it now to see, if there was still a dollhouse shop in town. There was-Die Puppenstube! I noted its location and then figured out how to get to the Marienplatz. The walk was way too long. The S-Bahn was our best bet. We left about 4:10.
We saw a sign downstairs pointing toward the underground shopping area that led to the S-Bahn. We passed shops, a grocery store and even Subway.
Instructions in English seemed safest, so we used those to figure out that we each needed a ticket costing 1,40 at 4:17. We headed for the train tracks and we were on the S-2 at 4:20.
Just 3 minutes later we were off the train and headed for the Marienplatz exit. It was windy and cold and there were so many people! I've been here so many times and never seen it this crowded. We headed west to get to the street by the Michaelskirche. Along the way, we passed the Frauenkirche, which is under renovation again. Those domes are a signature sight in the city
We had a devil of a time finding the shop. Oh, we got past the police station and to the complex just fine. The problem was that Google showed it as being in the back of the complex. It was not. I was so disappointed at not finding it, but when we got back out to the street, my husband suggested we check the shop a little further along the complex. We found it! It had seemed like a long time, but it was only 4:41. Inside there are all manner of tin ornaments and figures on one side and the miniatures on the other. I was tempted by the tin, but I was there for the miniatures. I found some marvelous Christmas items, among other things. The woman was impressed that I had been there before, even if it was 1999!
My wallet much lighter, we headed for the pedestrian zone that leads to the Marienplatz. At 5:10, we went in Max Kruger souvenirs to look for what my daughter wanted from München. Success this time! I also found some nice ornaments. We checked out a couple of other shops, too, including Kaufhof, and admired the scenery.
We worked our way back to the Marienplatz, still full of people and musicians. We turned left and had a good view of the Rathaus and its Glockenspiel.
At 6, we went to Donisl, a restaurant we'd gone to as a family on that other trip. I'd heard, it had been closed for renovations. It was quite different now. It looked very modern inside, even if it looked like an airy beer hall. Gone was the menu with almost everything the same price. However, we were hoping that the food was still good.
It was not very crowded this early on a Friday night. There was a long table to my right that was reserved and we felt sure it was for a tour. I saw something I'd never seen before on a menu-a Dunkles Radler. A Radler is the German version of a shandy. I've never had one with dark beer. This one tasted fantastic! I wish, I'd discovered it sooner. It was 4,90 and worth every Euro Cent. My husband opted for a Paulaner München Dunkel vom Fass for 5,10. The menu recommended the Wurstsalat mit Emmentaler Landkäs for 11,30, because it was summer. I've never had sausage salad before, but I do love Emmentaler. It was an interesting salad. Sausage slices making a mound in the center with a sauce and some greens. I liked it, but could have lived with less sausage. My husband chose the Filetpfandl for 16,30, happy that it would have Spätzle. It was huge! We enjoyed the bread that we got courtesy of my salad.
We paid the bill-37,40 rounded to 38- and left at 7. We looked at shop windows along that side of the Rathaus and found an open door to the courtyard of the Rathaus. I've never been in there before! There are so many cool gargoyles in there!
Heading back to the Marienplatz, we stopped at a kiosk so that I could get a couple of stickers for the front of the photo album. We took a selfie with the Rathaus' Glockenspiel behind us, before we headed for the S-Bahn station. Not finding down escalators working, we took an elevator down to the lower level. At 7:20, we once again paid 1,40 each for a ticket and then went down to the platform. The S2 stopped at 7:25 and it only took 3 minutes to get back to the station near the hotel.
We traversed the same underground passageway and my husband decided to stop at the grocery store to look for Fanta for my younger daughter. My knees couldn't take any more and I headed back to the room, after telling him to feel free to find inexpensive chocolate to take home.
When I reached the room at 7:40, I'd walked 11,833 steps for the day.
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